Extra Ordinary
by TheYummyPencil
Summary: Sequel to “Say Cheese”! Sharpay has a hard time adjusting to every day life with Troy in New Mexico. She wonders if she gave up on being Hollywood media fodder too soon. Better than the banal title suggests! I hope…


**Author's Note: My amiga, Dernier Cri suggested a companion piece to "Say Cheese" a while ago. I liked the idea and as soon as I was done writing the first one I got to thinking on Troy and Sharpay's lives together in New Mexico. How does Sharpay deal with the boredom that can come with being a non-celeb? Is her love for Troy REALLY enough to keep her happy? Will she find out about Ryan and Gabbie? All that soap opera crap. **

**So now I'm writing it! Look forward to more Troypay. **

**Disclaimer: Yeah, I own it. I OWN ALL OF IT! **

**Okay, psyche! **_**I joke, I joke, I kid, I kid**_**…I'm just suffering from acute disclaimer tedium. **

Extra Ordinary **Part Un **

From behind the swinging doors of the East High gym, a cacophony of girlish shrieks could be heard. Posted on the door was a glittery pink poster, with bold black letters announcing, SPEECH AND DRAMA CLASS, 3.00-4.00. Within the gym, Sharpay Evans was slowly but steadily losing her mind.

"Stephanie Lewis, put that cookie _down_! You have to _earn_ it. Running around in circles is _not_ earning it! Georgia, _quit_ pulling your sister's hair. I _swear_ I will tell your mother on you."

Sharpay tugged despairingly at the tails of her gold head scarf. When she started her own drama classes she had envisaged herself in less frumpy, Darbus-like attire, coaching an elite group of young, lithe future starlets that reminded her so dearly of herself. Her location? A studio with hardwood floors, a small stage and a huge window, looking out onto expansive green lawns.

Reality was a bitch. Shar smoothed down her purple and gold boho-chic blouse, trying to regain her composure.

It had been harder than she expected to get the venue, and her 'beau' (she could say proudly of six months), Troy Bolton suggested she use the East High gym, before he got in for basketball coaching. That immediately killed the romance of it all, but Troy looked so eager to support her dream she couldn't pooh-pooh it.

Unfortunately, her vision was to be further dampened. Sharpay found her graceful thespians were no older than nine. It seemed all the actresses in East High were already involved in the Drama Club, and saw no point in paying a 'mini-Darbus' for lessons. Even if she was a fallen star…

_Yes_. Life was steadily decreasing in glamour. But no matter. She still had Troy. She would always have Troy. And nothing could feel better for Sharpay.

"_Everybody…_get in a circle around me." Her students, varying in age and race, size and fashion sense, but alike in pure evil, continued on their rampage. "Okay! Everybody who wants a _cookie_ get in a circle around me." Sharpay had never seen a circle form so fast. Correction. She _had_ seen a circle form so fast. But they were all paparazzi, anxious to put her on the cover of some glossy magazine. Good old paparazzi…

"All your parents are here," said Shar authoritatively. "So it's time to go home. Don't forget class next week Thursday. We'll do a little Shakespeare."

"Who's Shakespeare?" Connie Thatcher piped up.

Sharpay narrowed her eyes at her. "_Get…out. _All of you! Scram. And don't forget your cookies."

They all dispersed after one great cry of, "_We love you, Ms. Evans_!"

She was only a little touched. She knew they were just saying that because of the cookies. _Cookie whores_…

"_I love you, too, Ms. Evans_!" Despite the squealy, high-pitched tone, Sharpay knew Troy's voice without turning around. She turned around anyway and ran at him, leaping into his arms and straddling his hips with her legs in a rather childish fashion.

"You have fun, Evans?" he murmured between kisses.

"No!" she pouted. "I'm gonna be a terrible mum."

"I object to that."

Sharpay resisted the urge to mutter, _You would_. She knew that when Troy looked into the future, he envisioned her; barefoot and pregnant, looking all vulnerable and maternal with cake flour on her hands from the cookie-making. He had never said it, but he was almost certainly thinking it. And it scared the hair dye out of her.

She disengaged from him in a swift movement.

"I seriously don't know how much longer I can take those girls," she murmured.

He shrugged. "Why don't you ask Ms. Darbus to help?"

She shook her head. "If I get Ms. Darbus involved I might as well be on the staff myself. And that would make all this…_permanent_. I'm not gonna be teaching forever," she added without thinking.

Troy looked as if this was news to him. He followed her to the small snack table which, Sharpay had discovered, was mandatory when dealing with small people.

"You're not?"

She picked up a cookie, and bit into it. "No," she murmured through chocolate chip, the burden of dieting gone. "I mean…_I don't know_. I'll probably end up doing something else."

"And you have _something_ in mind? Something specific?"

There was the concern again, thinly veiled behind startling blue eyes. Every time she alluded to her former occupation it appeared. It only made her more uncomfortable.

She put the cookie down decidedly. "Less talking," she demanded, grabbing him by the collar of his t-shirt. "More kissing."

Troy seemed all too happy to comply. But a second later a group of red and white Wildcats streamed in through the doors. They wasted no time in cheering and jeering as they observed the scene. Sharpay smiled impertinently, but figured she preferred it when the paparazzi leered. At least then she would get a good picture out of it…

**Part Deux**

"So how's the new career going, Pay Pay?" Mrs. Evans rested her chin in the palm of her hand. Sharpay was a more plump, less Botoxed version of her mother, but they shared the hair color so that from a distance they could be sisters.

"It's _not_ a career, mother," she said, sipping on her ice tea. They were having lunch at a cute little bistro near the school. Nowhere near as glam as the Ivy but they had good cake. "It's just…"

"What?" her mother peered at her over the rims of her sunglasses. "A hobby? Hobbies are for people with solid _jobs_ on the side, Pay Pay. You need a job. You _had_ a job…"

Shar grimaced at her tone. She knew perfectly well what the woman was getting at. If only she could disagree…

Everything had been so promising six months ago. Hollywood had bitch slapped her and she found sanctuary in Albuquerque. Then she saw Troy and Troy saw her and they kept seeing each other…and for a while it was perfect. But somewhere along the way it just got boring. Even her new friends were boring. She missed Lindsay and Paris and Nicole. Good old Nicole! She was such a gas…

It was not that Sharpay didn't have anything worth staying for. She was just getting stir crazy. She needed the bright lights. She was _born_ for them. But Troy didn't understand. Neither did her father. Not even Ryan. She missed Ryan…

"_Sharpay_?" Mrs. Evans' voice probed her thoughts. "Something wrong?"

Shar nibbled on a straw reluctantly. "No. Just thinking…"

"Thinking about what?"

She hesitated. "I think I need to go back to LA…"

"What?"

"I want to go back to LA, Troy."

"You can't."

"What do you mean, _I can't_? I can do whatever the hell I want!"

Troy gripped his hands on the dinner table. The rest of the apartment was dark, save the warm light in the kitchen, illuminating the pair.

"_Don't_ go, Sharpay. If you do, you won't come back."

Shar gaped. "That is _so_ not true. Mother is really supportive of this. And _you_ of all people have such little faith in me," she added with as much indignity as she could muster.

He put both hands in his hair. "That isn't true. I just…_I know you_. Being back there will make you all restless."

"And you think I'm not restless now?"

Troy narrowed his eyes so that the freakish blue was not as visible. He opened his mouth a fraction, closed it, and then opened it again with resolve.

"Let's not do this now."

"Now or never! I meant every word I said. I want to go to LA."

"Why?"

"Because I'm young! I want adventure. This _isn't_ adventure. Maybe Albuquerque is enough for you but it's not for me."

And here was where she expected him to yell, storm off to the bedroom, maybe even push over the table. Something dramatic like that. She got nothing of the sort.

He had not looked her in the eye since she spoke of leaving. Now he did. "Well, if there's nothing to keep you here…"

And with that he stood, grabbed that hideous denim jacket he still loved so much and made for the door.

She put her head in her hands. "_I'm sorry_, _Troy_."  
But he was already gone.

**Part Trois**

"_You idiot_."

"Good to see you, too, Ry!"

Sharpay dropped her bags and flopped into Ryan's arms. He seemed to return the embrace with reluctance.

"_What_ are you doing here, Sharpay?"

She settled a hand on her hip. "Well, I kind of _paid_ for the apartment. I think that gives me a right to visit once in a while. Pick up my bags for me, will you, sweetie?"

She strolled past him, hips swaying under her glittery pink skirt. She adjusted her shades and surveyed the loft.

"I forgot how perfectly…_bright_ LA could be!"

Ryan closed the door and dropped her bags in the living room. "So how's Troy?"

Sharpay paused before pushing the shades further up her nose. "_Same ol', same ol'_…"

"And your drama students?" He crossed his arms at his chest.

"_I dunno_. Cancelled classes for the month."

"Sharpay…"

"_Don't_ start, Ryan Nicodemus Evans!"

He grimaced at his own name and ran a hand through his sandy-blonde hair.

Sharpay did a double take.

"_Where_ is your hat?"

He shrugged. "Probably on a hobo's head right now. Good old Salvation Army…"

Shar gasped. "Ryan! _All_ of them? Those were like three hundred dollars each!"

"It's a tragedy, I know. _Listen_, Shar," he ploughed over her potential tirade. "I understand it's rude of me to leave right now. You _did_ give me a half hour's notice that you were coming. But I was going to meet up with…a friend before you got here. Do you mind if I pop out for an hour? Or four?"

She sniffed quietly. "Sure. Whatever. I'll find some way to amuse myself…"

And she did. Sharpay set about searching his room, looking for the list of Hollywood numbers she had erased from her phone.

"_God_," she muttered to herself, looking through the notebook on his bedside table. "I'm so freaking emotional sometimes, I don't think things through. Troy was rig-" She groaned. No. _No_ Troy! He was all the way in New Mexico being boring and she was in freaking Los Angeles…_alone_ and poking through her brother's boxers.

Sharpay sighed and flopped down by Ryan's bed. Stupid, gorgeous Troy who put up with all her baloney and whispered corny, love-struck things to her when he thought she was asleep, and made her happy with a kiss on the forehead. _Stupid Troy_.

As Sharpay poked at the carpet, she spotted something sticking out from under the bed. _What the_…

She drew it out and tossed it away a second later. Underwear! Red, lacy _underwear_? Ryan was getting lucky? Ew! Well, it was either that or he was a cross dresser. She would prefer it if he were a cross dresser.

Sharpay inspected the offensive undergarments from a distance. _Hm_. Ryan had a girlfriend? That was the only alternative because he had never been that one-night stand guy. So why did he choose _not_ to tell Sharpay about her?

Hungry, Shar went on a quest to the kitchen. She grabbed an apple, feeling her body adjusting to the diet climate already. Her eyes roamed the meticulously stylish place (it wasn't as cute as Troy's) and rested on a box of Frosties. She frowned. Ryan _hated_ Frosties. Why would he have them? Unless…unless the mystery girl liked them. Wow. She would have to be something special to get him to replace muesli with Frosties.

Sharpay's mind suddenly flooded with all the Troy memories she wanted to put away forever. Troy and Sharpay in the shower, Troy and Sharpay in East High, Troy and Sharpay at the movies, Troy and Sharpay on the kitchen table, Troy and Sharpay _arguing_ at the kitchen table…

No room in the apartment seemed efficient to escape him. Her last resort was the study. Sharpay expected to find the place locked or covered in dust. She was wrong. It had a definite _used_ feel to it. The chair was pushed out from the desk, books were left open. Books on _science_?

Sharpay settled down at the computer, eyeing the place suspiciously. Something was not right. She was just missing what the something was…

Ryan rushed back into the loft. The underwear, the cereal, all traces of Gabriella. He had to hide the evidence. But the nail in the coffin was the e-mails. She wouldn't find them though, would she? She wouldn't be _that_ prying. Oh, who was he fooling? This was Sharpay. _Of course_ she would be that prying! Ryan pushed open the door of the study slowly…

_To Whom It May Concern at Us Weekly:_

_Find attached nude photos of Sharpay Evans. _

_Sincerely _

_Anonymous_

Sharpay could not see, but she could _feel_ her face turning a livid ketchup red. She turned around slowly.

"_You_."

Ryan backed away. "_Sharpay_, we only did it to-"

"_You and Gabriella._ Gabriella _Montez_?" Her eyes narrowed to slits. "_You evil-conniving-little_…" Somewhere in Africa, it is very likely that Sharpay's shriek was heard as she attacked her brother…

_**Part Quatre**_

Sharpay dressed that evening with a great sense of resolution. She tied up her black halter dress with resolve, strapped on her killer red heels with resolve, even applied perfume with resolve which- you'll know if you've ever tried it- is very difficult to do without choking on expensive French fumes.

Yes. Sharpay knew her mission. Reclaim her title as Hollywood "it girl" and get blind drunk. Getting drunk was proving easier than reclaiming her fame. Lindsay, Paris and Nicole were all 'busy', and even her last resort, 'Kimmy K' was already out.

Sharpay decided to go out alone and let the celebs find her. That almost always worked.

Unfortunately, Hyde and the Viper Room did not seem to think her 'star material' anymore. Well, they were overrated anyway! She ended up drifting into a kareoke bar where she found herself singing her own hit, _Greater Than the Haters._ Not even then did the patrons recognize her.

After some polite applause, Sharpay flopped down in her booth for a good cry. She was starting to realize exactly how stupid she had been.

She came here for what? Friends that only wanted her if she was as famous as them? Restaurants where she could only order ice tea for fear of looking like a glutton? Paparazzi that lost interest as soon as she stopped being news? And what did she leave behind? Everything that mattered.

Sometimes- _most of the time_, Sharpay did not know what the hell she wanted. But there was at least one thing she had clear, and it was that she lo-

"Sharpay!" She rolled her eyes as Ryan sat down in the booth opposite her. "I've been looking all over for you."

"Well, you found me. Now evaporate." She sucked her vodka tonic resentfully through a straw.

Ryan sighed. "I _wasn't_ trying to betray you."

"Really? _God_, I'd hate to see you when you _are_ trying to betray me!"

He lowered his eyes, wounded. "I'm sorry, Shar."

She shook her head. "_Gabriella Montez_?" she hissed. "That is so _low_."

"We- _I_ was just trying to get you away from the craziness. And look at it this way- if you hadn't left, you never would've found Troy!"

"And you never would've found _Gabbie_," she added bitterly. A pause. "Well…how long have you two been a…_thing_?"

"Six months, five days…give or take three hours."

She rolled her eyes. "_How cute_."

Ryan gave her his best puppy dog gaze. "Are you ever going to forgive me, big sister?"

Sharpay groaned. "I forgave you as soon as I figured out what you did. I just need some time to act mad."

He gripped her hand on the table, as if praising her for her mercifulness.

Ryan ordered a drink, asked the waiter to have him put down for 'We Are The Champions' and rested his chin in his palm.

"_Troy called_," he said nonchalantly, after a lengthy silence.

Sharpay's head was cradled in her arms and she chose not to look up as she said: "He did, did he?" She tried to sound contemptuous. It didn't work.

"He wanted to know if you were okay." Ryan paused for a response and got none. "Even though you were a jerk and ditched him he wanted to know if _you were okay_. He loves you, Sharpay!"

"He wants me to be ordinary! An ordinary, child-bearing cookie-maker."

"Sharpay Evans, you could _never_ be ordinary. And you can't bake for shit. Troy wouldn't try to make you anything you're not. You're just being dumb!"

"I know that!" She looked up, tears racing down her cheeks. "I screwed up, I crushed his heart, and now he's never going to forgive me. I _know_."

He reached across the table and grabbed her face in his hands. "So what are going to _do_ about it?"

"Kill myself!"

"No! You're going to beg forgiveness!"

"_Oh_. Can't I just kill myself?"

Ryan shook his head but could only laugh ruefully. Hollywood would miss Sharpay Evans.

Part Cinq 

"_Fletcher_, don't even _think_ about that water until you've scored a point! Monty, what's the problem? You have lead in your sneakers? I wanna see you _running_, come on!"

From outside the East High gym the ferocious squeak of sneakers, thump of a basketball and hollering of a rather huffy coach could be heard.

Troy prowled up and down the court, clipboard in hand. He wasn't usually this much of a tyrant, but the Wildcats were perfectly aware that their coach had been severely dumped. Troy knew that _they_ knew this and it only made his mood worse.

He was just about to issue a thousand suicides when a voice made him turn around.

"Hey, _Bolton_!"

Sharpay Evans pranced in through the doors in a very patriotic red and white print dress. Troy set his face up to look resolutely pissed off. It was a hard job.

"Be easy on the boys, will you, coach?" she said sweetly. "We all know who you're really mad at."

"What're you doing here?" he asked, ignoring the fact that the team were all watching, apparent by the sudden silence.

"I have come," she delicately descended to her knees before him, "to beg you to please take me back."

There was a sudden burst of cheers and jeers. Troy glanced back and they immediately shut up.

"I thought being here wasn't enough."

Her blue eyes widened. "It is! Look," she exhaled, "I'm sorry that I made you feel all inadequate. I _want_ to be ordinary. I want to get married and have cute kids that I hate and learn how to bake! I'm _okay_ with ordinary. As long as I'm ordinary with you."

Troy shook his head slowly, but a second later the familiar grin began to spread.

She held up her hands and he took them, pulling her to her feet. Their tenacious audience were at it again, clapping their hands and whooping.

"You could never be ordinary, Evans."

She beamed as Troy tilted her face up to his. "_So I've heard_…"

**Author's Note: **_**Fin**_**! Hope readers of the first one liked the second one-shot just as much. Ciao! And…**

**GBU (God Bless U) **


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